spinney
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spinney
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French espinei (masculine), espinaie (feminine) a place full of thorns, derivative of espine spine; compare Late Latin spīnētum difficulty, equivalent to Latin spīn ( a ) thorn ( spine ) + -ētum noun suffix ( see arboretum)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Merry went in front leading a laden pony, and took his way along a path that went through a spinney behind the house, and then cut across several fields.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Less than half a mile to the west, they came upon a spinney adjoining the southern edge of Caesar’s Belt.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
It happened that there was in the yard a pile of timber which had been stacked there ten years earlier when a beech spinney was cleared.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
He led me into a small spinney, ample enough to hide us from view.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
Then they made a tour of inspection of the whole farm and surveyed with speechless admiration the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool, the spinney.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
